The Missing in Bloom

It was pain that didn’t exist, something that was hurting before it’s time. An ache that didn’t exist, but all it did was make its presence known.

That how the boy could best describe it.

The old man looked at him for a bit, stroking his chin thoughtfully, smacking lips like he was about to say something but, stopping. He looked at one book, then another bottle, then flipping pages to another, intense in finding a solution, while asking the young man questions.

“..And when did this come to play?”

“It was maybe some week ago, as I left to another march outside of the town, Killcog” he said, fixing himself in the chair ” …the first night we camped, I drew second watch and as I was  falling asleep, I felt something horrible, a pain, like I forgot something horrible, something I needed bad. I reviewed my kit, my weapons, everything all was there, and I didn’t know why this dread came in…”

The old man sighed, looking up “And then?”

“Nothing, I went to sleep, and then when my watch came, I woke and I was fine, but as sat in a tree with my longbow in hand, if started to creep in” the Boy looked down at his hands, they were steady, but it was as if he was concentrating on them to stay steady

The old man opened another book, this one of various pictures of seeds, checked one off and then went to a series of small drawers near his desk, opening one and then another, fingers searching in each one. “And then?”

“On my watch, I was able to see marauders sneak into the treeline, I raised the alarm, and my partners rose ready in time for them. I myself, was able to down 2 of them as they charged in, with my bow” he said, this time happy with himself. The old man found what he was looking for, grabbed a small a pot off the window shelf, clay but covered in runes, and with an odd purple dirt inside. He put the seeds deep in the dirt, pushing them to the side. The old man whispered something and blew on the pot, a veil of lgith and smoke emanating.

“So your skills as an archer haven’t suffered?” the old man asked, blowing away

“No, sir, if anything I’m as keen as ever” the boy said, happy and worried at the same time.

“So it hasn’t gone away?” the old man said staring at the small clay pot, as it trembled.

No sir, I finished my mission with my partners returned a hero, with gold and treasure, but I haven’t shaken it off. If anything, I think it’s worse!” by the end the boy was exasperated, pained as he was about the whole ordeal suddenly, on the verge of tears “I don’t what to do, I can’t sleep, I can’t work, I even said no to new work as it’s come in”

The pot now trembled, as green sprouts began to grow from it, magically pushing into the air at an accelerated rate. the boy looked curiously at it.

“Is that something to cure me?” he said, hoping as he swallowed hard

“Something to that effect”, as the old man concentrated on the pot “But it’s not for you”

The boy looked curiously at him, and before he could draw breath for his next question, the old man interrupted “But for your condition… what happened the day before this night of your mission”

The boy thought for a bit, not sure, recounting “Not much, I stayed in the barracks, I practiced, when the Captain came back with our mission, I went to the market to get supplies, make sure the horses were ready and…” he trailed off.

“…and?” the old man said, an almost smile forming on his lips, Leaves now forming on the sprouts.

“..I saw a girl. Well, a girl from my hometown, she was in the city with here father, and…”

Bulbs, now formed on the stalks that grew from the pot, talk, and long, the petals almost growing. The old man stopped concentrating and let the plant blossom in his hands.

“Did you talk to her?”

“No” the boy said, now his hands trembling “I talked to her brother”

“Ah….” the old man said

The boy looked up at the Old Man now, desperate “What is it, what’s been done to me?”

The old man held back a laugh, and moved the now beautiful flowers to the boy in their enchanted base, the man moved to a faint seriousness

“You have been afflicted by the worst condition known to man…” The boy stood to attention at this news, “The one thing that has plagued all sine the beginning of time… LOVE”

The boy’s face almost twisted into disgust at the this, but he slowly realized what the old man was saying.

“Take these” the old man said with a toothy grin ” ..and go to her”

The boy grabbed the flowers and ran out of the old wizards home, riding his horse home bound. All the old man could do, was laugh.

“Now that is an adversary I would be scared of…”

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